Poor Pre-Abortion Counseling Causes Women and Men Relationship Problems
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 12, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Abortion is seen by some women having them as a way to salvage a relationship with a husband or boyfriend. But, a new study finds women and men who are not properly counseled before the abortion ultimately find themselves suffering from relationship problems and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study makes it apparent that many women are having abortions under the false assumption that it will aid their relationships.
It indicates that better pre-abortion counseling would prevent some abortions by helping women understand abortion is not a solution to relationship problems — but actually causes more.
The new paper, authored by researchers Catherine T. Coyle, Priscilla K. Coleman, and Vincent M. Rue, is published in the online journal, Traumatology.
The purpose of the study was to "examine associations between perceptions of pre-abortion counseling adequacy and partner congruence in abortion decisions and two sets of outcome variables involving relationship problems and individual psychological stress."
The researchers collected data through online surveys from 374 women who had a prior abortion and 198 men whose partners had an abortion.
Women who had abortions, and men whose partners had them, and believed their pre-abortion counseling to be of a poor quality faced a number of post-abortion problems.
"For women, perceptions of pre-abortion counseling inadequacy predicted relationship problems, symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal, and meeting full diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with controls for demographic and personal/situational variables used," the researchers note.
"For men, perceptions of inadequate counseling predicted relationship problems and symptoms of intrusion and avoidance with the same controls used," the study indicated.
The study said the "incongruence in the decision to abort predicted intrusion and meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD among women" and, for men, that incongruence "predicted intrusion, hyperarousal, meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and relationship problems."
Ultimately, the authors of the study suggest that poor pre-abortion counseling, resulting in abortions that neither partner probably want, leads to future problems.
"Findings suggest that both perceptions of inadequate pre-abortion counseling and incongruence in the abortion decision with one’s partner are related to adverse personal and interpersonal outcomes," they conclude.
Citation: Catherine T. Coyle, Priscilla K. Coleman, and Vincent M. Rue, Inadequate Pre-abortion Counseling and Decision Conflict as Predictors of Subsequent Relationship Difficulties and Psychological Stress in Men and Women Traumatology first published on November 16, 2009 as doi:10.1177/1534765609347550
Related web sites:
Link to Study – https://tmt.sagepub.com/cgi/rapidpdf/1534765609347550v1
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
